Ace in the Hole
by Eurwen de Vrill
Summary: Kaiya. Bentley. Yin. Talin. Four girls from the world as we know it, a freak (spiritual) accident, and the unfortunate heroines find themselves stranded in the Avatar world with no way back home. A tale of girls who have what it takes to suck it up and survive instead of moaning and weeping for their Prince Charming to come and save them. And the Avatar? Still missing, of course.
1. The Beginning

**Ace in the Hole**

**Eurwen de Vrill**

**Chapter One: The Beginning**

* * *

Yin looked grumpily at her bottle of root beer. "I dislike being here."

"Shush, you." Kaiya flapped a hand at the scene before them, smiling widely. "It's exactly what we needed, Yin - a day off from stress, and other people."

Her friend squinted. "You count as people," she pointed out. "And why is watching Talin raid the fridge something to celebrate? She does it everyday."

"Because - wait. Talin, get away from the fridge! No, don't you dare eat that cake. Drop it - _drop it_ - Talin, get back here!"

Yin hunkered down in her seat grouchily. "Stupid Frenchie. Stupid sun." She glared balefully up at the sky, shielding her eyes from the light. "Why am I here?"

"Because you're antisocial and you need to get out more," said Bentley in a matter-of-fact tone. She dropped down next to her friend and ignored the blistering glare, instead opting to pop her soda. She took a long sip. "Besides, you'd never deny Kaiya anything, and she's the one who organized this thing."

Yin's scathing reply died as she turned to look at the brunette. "What the hell are you wearing!?"

"What?" Bentley looked down. "My bikini?"

"But why?"

"Well," Bentley said dryly, "it's summer, and it just so happens to be a pool party we're at. Party of four, but we had to work with what we could, since if there were any more people you would have bitten their heads off or stabbed them with a pencil or something."

Yin completely ignored the jab at her misanthropic nature and scoffed. "I have nothing against bikinis, but the one you're wearing is an atrocity. Pink? Ugh." She shuddered. "When you're not looking, I'm going to burn it."

"Pyro. And that just warned me to keep it under lock and key."

The teen sniffed haughtily. "As if anything could keep me out."

As loathe as Bentley was to admit it, what Yin had boasted was true. The sixteen year old was dangerously proficient in what Kaiya called her "criminal skill set," which was a long list that included lock picking, manipulating and infiltrating. Her fondness for setting things on fire could count, considering how no matter how many times they took her toys away she kept coming back with more. Bentley still wasn't sure what she was going to do with the small mountain of confiscated matches in her closet.

A tremendous crash dragged their attention to the pool. Yin grumbled and smashed a throw pillow to her face while her friend watched the scene in a sort of horrified fascination. Talin, whom they had long agreed to be absolutely crazy, had just cannon-balled into the pool and was repeating the process with dogged determination, laughing wildly even as she resurfaced spluttering and coughing. Kaiya was trying to stop her before she hurt herself - again - but the crazy French girl was deaf to all pleas.

"Why do we keep her around," Yin grumbled from under her pillow.

Bentley watched the crazy girl in question flail madly before gravity pulled her into the water. "Entertainment? And we all know she's a genius." Yin snorted. "Don't deny it, she's a mad genius. It's okay for her to be a bit off."

"I caught her licking my mirror last week."

"… Talin's unique."

"Unique. That's cute." Yin pushed the pillow away and frowned at the pool. "What's she doing now?"

Talin resurfaced with something blue and glowing in her mouth. With a look of resignation, the two girls made their way closer to the pool, where Kaiya was trying (and failing) to convince the mad genius to let go of the orb.

Yin crouched down at the edge of the pool and looked at their insane friend. "Alright, wondergirl, whatcha got for us?"

Talin dropped the glowing orb in her outstretched hand and grinned dizzily. "I found it at the bottom of the pool," she informed them. Kaiya made a noise of disgust in the back of her throat and even Bentley made a face. Yin just looked on in boredom, turning the ball over and around in her hands. "It _called_ to me."

"Right." Yin dangled the orb between her thumb and pointer finger, looking at it in distaste. "Well, it's nothing worth selling, so I'm gonna chuck this. 'kay? Yeah, cool." She reared back to throw it.

Then she stopped.

"Yin?" There was a strange expression on her face, and if Kaiya had to put a name to it, it would be... panic. Which was impossible, because Yin never panicked, not even when facing down an angry mob. "Something wrong?"

"… It's not letting go."

* * *

"Okay, this is officially getting creepy."

An hour later and the girls were still at a loss. The glowing ball that had attached itself to Yin's hand like a leech was refusing to let go, and no matter what they did it wouldn't budge. Bentley had just barely managed to convince the ill-tempered girl not to chop off her hand and now they were sitting in a loose circle, staring at the source of their problem.

Yin smashed her hand against the wall, but the orb didn't so much as crack. She stared down at it with narrowed eyes. "My belief that the world hates me has been justified."

"Dramatic much?"

"Silence, madwoman."

Bentley rolled her eyes and pulled the brush through her hair for the hundredth time. "We can't do anything about it now," she reminded them. "We're supposed to be having a sleepover. I for one vote that we sleep on it before we do anything more."

Yin gave her an incredulous look. "I never thought I'd say this, but right now there's something more pressing than sleep."

Just then, Kaiya bustled in with a bundle in her arms. She distributed one lump of cloth to each of her friends. "Pajamas," she said. "Worn, comfortable yukatas that double as pajamas, but who cares? Yin, let me help you with that."

Yin jerked her arm away with a scowl. "I'm fine."

"Yin Fei, you stop being pigheaded and let me help you change - you can't do it with a glowing ball stuck to your hand."

Seeing their grumpy friend be bullied into acquiescence, Talin turned to Bentley. "Bentley Gladstone, you stop being a monstrous purple toad and give me back my cupcakes!"

"That's a new one," Bentley muttered. Slightly louder, she replied, "You know you're banned from too much sugar, Talin. So no cupcakes for you. Here, have a carrot."

Talin gave the proffered vegetable a dirty look and batted it away.

"Oh, these are nice." Bentley ran an appreciative hand down the fabric of her sleeping wear. "Yin, do you have clothes like these?"

"I'm Chinese, not Japanese. But yeah, I have a few hanfu lying around somewhere."

"Mulan," Talin said suddenly. Yin gave her a funny look but shrugged.

Kaiya finished up with her own clothes and stood up, stretching. "These aren't very nice ones, actually. We have much fancier ones, but these are for everday wear so they're pretty simple."

And they were. Kaiya's and Talin's robes were a solid light green, while Bentley's and Yin's were a darker, forest shade and patterned with nearly invisible bamboo leaves. It was a novelty to wear Eastern clothing to Talin and Bentley, but Yin just lounged about like a content jungle cat, looking perfectly at home.

Well. Except for the orb attached to her hand.

"Let's watch movies," Talin piped up, sneakily reaching for the platter of sugary goods that rested on the table. Without looking Bentley plucked it up and over her head, placing it well out of her reach. She pouted.

Kaiya brightened. "That's a great idea! I vote we watch - "

"No." Yin glowered.

"But - "

"No."

"… Fine, no chick flicks. But that means no horror movies."

Yin looked disgruntled, but folded her arms and looked away. Taking that as a yes, Kaiya heaved herself up and moved to the movie closet, where dozens of DVDs were filed in alphabetical order. Talin wandered over and browsed through the impressive collection, nibbling on a carrot.

Kaiya leaned back. "Any suggestions?"

"I'm good for some comedy."

"Something with fighting."

"Stop being bloodthirsty, Yin."

"Then stop being a sap, Kaiya."

Talin slyly held up a DVD. "Barbie Thumbelina, anyone?"

There was a sudden burst of violence that was quickly subdued by Bentley, though snippets of swearing could be heard from the bottom of the dog pile that had formed on top of Yin. Kaiya looked thoughtfully down at the offending movie. "I didn't realize I still had this."

"_Why_ did you have it in the first place?"

"I liked these things when I was a kid, Yin. I think my dream was to become a princess." Kaiya frowned. "'Course, _that_ died a quick death once I met you. And don't look so happy about it."

Yin still looked inordinately pleased. "I have saved you from a horrifying fate."

Her friend rolled her eyes. "Yes, because a little girl being a typical little girl is so horrifying. You may have burnt your dolls and methodically took them apart when you were younger, but that doesn't mean everyone else does it."

Bentley gave Yin a sideways look. "You really did that?"

"Yes. I hate dolls. They creep the hell out of me."

"Ladies and gentlemen, presenting Yin Fei, devil incarnated, afraid of butterflies and dolls."

Yin scowled. "You can never tell where butterflies will go next," she said. "They flutter all over the damn place and they can't do it in an orderly fashion. And dolls have those creepy glass eyes and painted smiles and they just _look_ at you like they're about to rip your throat out in the dead of night."

"Paranoid," Talin coughed. She avoided the scorching glare by sidling up to the sweets table and trying to snatch a chocolate bar. Bentley threw a pillow at her and she retreated, grumbling.

"We're definitely not going to watch any Barbie movies," said Kaiya, with a wry glance at her closest friend. Yin sniffed. "Something we all like should do... Harry Potter?"

"We just watched the entire series last month," Bentley pointed out.

Kaiya sighed. "Lord of the Rings?"

There was a chorus of halfhearted "maybe" from the masses.

She threw up her hands. "Well, decide already, or we're going to paint nails for the next hour!" She ignored the tortured _"No!"_ from Yin and settled her hands on her hips, gazing around the room with such a fierce expression that no one dared argue.

"Avatar," said Talin absentmindedly. She was poking and prodding the orb attached to Yin's hand with great interest, peering into its depths with her pale moonstone eyes. Yin sat with a long-suffering look but let her do as she pleased. "Not the blue people, the Last Airbender series."

There was a moment of silence where the other three girls paused and stared at her, as if disbelieving of the fact that she had just handed them a very logical choice to prevent any further bickering. Talin, to her credit, merely blinked and went back to examining the orb with an air of curiosity, shrugging off their admittedly offensive surprise like rain rolling off glass.

Bentley turned to Yin smugly. "I told you she wasn't just crazy."

"Shut up."

"Well," said Kaiya, surveying the room with an expression like she'd been hit over the head with something blunt and heavy, "Avatar it is, I guess."

* * *

Just when things were beginning to settle down a bit, Yin yelped.

Talin paused in tossing popcorn at Bentley and looked over. "Ohhhhh..."

"What? What happened?" Kaiya craned her neck to see. "Someone turn on the light, I can't see anything."

"No need." Yin held up her hand uneasily. "You should be able to see this perfectly fine."

The orb was glowing almost violently, pulsing with light at uneven intervals that seemed to be quicken with every passing moment. Where it had rested placidly since Talin had fished it out of the pool, a steady shade of blue, now it was flickering madly with different colors, from a vibrant shade of green to a deep, ominous shade of blood red. The TV was all but forgotten in the background as the girls crowded around it, exchanging anxious looks as Yin's increasingly desperate attempts to detach it from her person proved futile.

"Maybe we should - "

"You're not going to cut off your hand!"

"Well what choice do I have? The thing looks like it's going to explode any minute now!"

"Yin, where are you going? No - Talin, grab her! Don't let her get into the kitchen!"

"Ow - let go of me - "

"Who just stepped on me?!"

_"Everyone shut up!" _

Silence descended abruptly at Bentley's roar. A few tense seconds passed, and Yin slowly swiveled her head to look over her shoulder. "… Who turned the TV off?"

Blinding light filled the room and suddenly, there was the feeling of plunging off a cliff with nothing to stop their dizzying drop and it was like they were

in

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f

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* * *

_End._

* * *

**AN: So I should probably be working on Pick Your Poison, but I kept reading all these A:tLA OC stories and I couldn't resist trying it myself. **

**Leave a review!**

**-Eurwen de Vrill**


	2. Into the Wild

**Ace in the Hole**

**Eurwen de Vrill**

**Chapter Two: Into the Wild**

* * *

Kaiya woke to a screaming headache.

She pulled herself into a sitting position with a groan and clutched her head, wondering if Talin had snuck any alcohol into their drinks. She didn't think so, but with Talin one never knew.

"Finally, you woke up. It took you long enough."

Kaiya cracked her eyes open. "What - Yin?"

"The one and only." Yin stepped into her line of view, looking distinctly ruffled and unhappy. "Bentley woke up about an hour before you did, and Talin's still out cold, though I think she's faking. I know you don't snore in your sleep Talin, get up."

Whining, Talin stopped snoring obnoxiously and rolled onto her back, frowning at Yin. The latter ignored her and handed the still-disorientated Kaiya a cup of water. "Bentley's looking around, but she should be back soon. How're you feeling?"

"Like we got plastered." Yin's lips twitched, but Kaiya was staring at the cup with a clammy feeling in her stomach. "… That's not my cup."

It was a dull reddish-brown and cracked along one side, with faded black designs running across the surface. She recalled the pictures in her history textbooks, the ones of tools used by ancient civilizations, and saw the resemblance; the cup looked as if it had been molded from clay and was lumpy and misshapen in places. A thread of unease wound around her organs. Kaiya looked up. "Yin, where are we?"

The room they were in was dusty and small, with dirt floor and walls made of wood. She thought the window was just a hole in the wall at first, and it honestly looked like it - the glass had been punched out a long time ago, and the occasional breeze ruffled their hair before escaping. The air was stale and she thought she spied vegetation growing from random patches of dirt around the room, and - she glanced down - the bed was in a sorry state itself. She eyed the stained and uncomfortably hard mattress as if looking at an alien species and glanced down at the threadbare blankets wrapped around her frame.

"Yin," she repeated, "where are we?"

Yin looked away, and a stab of fear pierced her heart. In all her years of knowing the girl, Kaiya had never seen her look so lost and frustrated and - she squinted - afraid. And that scared her, because if Yin - tough, imperturbable Yin - was, then what was she going to do?

"I don't know." Yin's voice was impossibly quiet. Kaiya drew the blankets closer around herself. "I woke up and we were all here - the ball was gone, too."

The girls fell into tense silence, neither of them knowing what to say. What words could you offer for a bizarre situation in which you found yourself in a strange environment when moments before, you were at your own house?

Talin perked up and turned to the door expectantly. Sure enough, Bentley stepped in, brushing dust out of her hair. She looked grim. "Whole place was abandoned," she said, striding to the bed and sinking down next to Kaiya. "Dust everywhere, I don't think anyone's been here for years now, and nothing of value. Wood, dirt, and stone. Nothing to help us figure out where we are and just what the hell is going on."

They stared at her. It was an unspoken sort of agreement between them that Yin was the one with the foul mouth, so that Bentley was cursing was a cause of concern. She never swore unless the situation was truly bleak.

"Whoever lived here must have been dirt poor," observed Talin. "This is a pretty crummy place to live."

Kaiya bit her lip. Their neighborhood had been one of the wealthier towns in the district, which was saying a lot, so the fact that they now found themselves in such a poor area was... worrying.

"Damn it!" Yin rounded on Talin, eyes blazing. "You just had to be nuts and pick up that stupid ball, didn't you? Why couldn't you just leave it alone? It was _glowing_, for heaven's sake!"

Talin recoiled, eyes large and hurt, but didn't say anything. As horrible as it was, the thought had crossed their minds once or twice - Yin had just voiced it out loud.

"Now we're in the middle of who knows where with no way to get back home. We're penniless, and the only things we have are the clothes on our back - and they're not too impressive, let me tell you. We don't even have _shoes_!"

This was, again, true: they were still clad in the green yukatas, which didn't provide much protection against nature. Kaiya bowed her head and didn't meet anyone's eyes.

"I took a look around earlier," Yin continued, voice cold enough to freeze water. "There's no food, there isn't even a fridge, and no bathroom. So: what are we going to do?"

Bentley put an arm around Talin. "That's enough, Yin. Getting angry won't help anything."

Her words were soft, but everyone recognized the steel underneath, something that even Yin knew to be wary of. The girl huffed and turned her head, her mouth a thin slash on her face. Kaiya, who had known her the longest out of all of them, could see the fear and uncertainty lurking behind her mask of anger and reached out, placing a hand on her arm. She counted it as a victory that Yin didn't shake it off.

Eventually the silence was broken by Bentley. She stood and looked out the window, brows creased. "We should try to find some food before it gets any darker," she said. "There's a forest out there, about ten minutes away from here - Kaiya, you were in Girl Scouts, do you remember anything?"

"I can try." There was no hiding the doubt in her voice, doubt that was reflected on her friends' faces. It had been a long time since her Girl Scout days, and she hadn't exactly been the most enthusiastic of troopers. Now she wished she'd paid much closer attention to what her leader had said.

Talin was noticeably more subdued than usual as they filed out the house and Kaiya dug and elbow into her friend's side, giving her an encouraging smile. The smile slid off when Talin only mustered up enough energy for a wan grin and she turned to Yin with arms folded. Yin scowled, but moved forward to walk by Talin's side. Kaiya hung back to give them space, and soon Bentley joined her. By the time they reached the woods, the normally hyperactive girl was much more energetic and even Yin looked more upbeat under her customary grumpiness.

The good mood disappeared pretty quickly.

"I don't recognize any of these plants." Kaiya looked helplessly at the berries in her hands and wondered just what the hell they were. Even with her rusty memories, she was pretty certain she'd never been taught about these plants.

Yin threw her handful of berries to the ground. "This is ridiculous. Did you see any houses nearby? Any at all?"

Bentley shook her head. "All the ones I did see were abandoned, if not entirely destroyed. It's a ghost town."

"Fabulous." Yin kicked out, sending rocks and clumps of dirt scattering. "We're going to starve to death, in the middle of nowhere. And where's Talin?"

"Right here," she called. She was crouched behind a bush, peering at something with a strange look in her eyes. Alarm bells started ringing in Kaiya's head. "Guys, look at this."

They squatted next to her. Yin made a noise of derision.

"A pond," she said. "And some ducks. How are we going to hunt them, much less cook them?"

Talin shook her head, unperturbed by the edge to her friend's voice. "No, look closer. Look at the ducks."

It was Kaiya who saw it first. She took a sharp intake of breath. Yin's head snapped around. "What? What is it?"

Bentley looked shaken. "Those aren't ducks."

And they weren't, not really. They looked and acted like normal ducks, sounded like them, but...

"Are those... shells? _Turtle_ shells?"

Kaiya whitened. "Turtle-ducks. Those are turtle-ducks."

"Turtle-ducks don't exist." Yin shook her head, sounding as close to panicked as they'd ever heard her. "They shouldn't be real, unless we're... in... the Avatar world."

The girls looked at each other, eyes wide.

"Oh my God," said Bentley, "We're in the Avatar world."

* * *

_End._

* * *

**AN: Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter too? Pretty short, but eh..*peeks out hopefully***

**Leave a review!**


	3. Tilted Axis

**Ace in the Hole**

**Eurwen de Vrill**

**Chapter Three: Tilted Axis**

* * *

"That's insane," Yin said immediately. "We can't be in the - well. It's not possible."

"But here we are, with actual living, breathing turtle-ducks in front of us." Bentley gestured to the creatures. "It makes sense, in a really weird way. We were watching the series when that ball acted up and exploded, and the houses - they fit into what the world was like in the show."

"Wait, did they even have indoor plumbing!?"

Talin spoke up. "The Avatar world largely consisted of agricultural areas," she said. "Especially in the Earth Kingdom, and a good deal of Fire Nation land was dedicated to farming. Where we are is most certainly a rural area, and the large space behind the house must have been a field of some sort before the people left." Then she blinked, redirecting her attention to the turtle-ducks. "I wonder if I can catch one," she murmured.

They stared at her. As Bentley said before, they all knew that Talin was extraordinarily intelligent, but it still left them reeling when she unleashed it on them, though. Sometime Kaiya suspected that the girl acted loopy because she enjoyed their reactions when she dropped the act. Then again, maybe not. It was Talin, after all.

"… Right." Bentley blinked. "What she said."

"What I really want to know, though, is if any of us can bend." Kaiya held Yin's scornful gaze. "You thought being in the Avatar world was impossible, and it happened. So now that we're here, why can't we bend?"

"She's right," Bentley agreed. "Besides, if we can, it would be just a bit easier to survive and defend ourselves."

"Spirit," said Talin suddenly. Her moonstone eyes were fixed with unnerving intensity at a spot beyond the pond. The girls exchanged uneasy looks and drifted closer to each other. Yin slipped into the familiar ready stance, relaxed but muscles coiled to explode into action any second.

No one questioned the existence of spirits.

"Impressive."

Yin whirled around and her hands lashed out lightning-quick, but the stranger dodged them with laughable ease. Teeth bared, she retreated and positioned herself in front of her friends, eyes trained on the perceived threat.

Said threat raised his hands in a sign of peace. "Calm yourself, I won't attack you."

"And why should I believe you? You could be lying," Yin snapped.

Startlingly blue eyes looked down at her thoughtfully. "Suspicious one, aren't you? And I'm not lying. If I wanted to hurt you, I would have done so already."

Bentley saw the truth in his words and put a hand on Yin's shoulder. "He's right; he was quick enough to avoid you, and we didn't even sense him until he announced himself."

"He was right there though," Talin muttered petulantly. The man graced her with a quick smile and she looked away, peeved. Meanwhile, Kaiya stood quietly and studied him.

He was almost devastatingly handsome, with half of his long black hair pulled back into a topknot and the rest set free to fall down his back like some dark waterfall. His robes were rich in both texture and color, and he stood tall and proud like an aristocrat straight out of her history textbooks. She caught of glimpse of a conical straw hat hanging down his back, held up only by the string connecting its bases, which rested at his throat and moved every time he spoke. It was an odd choice of headwear compared to the rest of his resplendent clothes, but it somehow suited him.

Her eyes widened when she saw that he wasn't touching the ground. He hovered a few inches off the forest floor, clothing rustling slightly from an invisible breeze.

"My name is Lui," the spirit said. "I am a spirit of transitions and the flow of change."

"A spirit," noted Talin. Her eyes were sharp. "You're not the only one?"

"Of course not. One spirit alone cannot possibly hope to maintain order over such a chaotic domain." Lui clasped his hands behind his back. "The four of you are familiar with this world, but you are not from it. How curious."

"Curious? So you didn't pull us into this world yourself?"

He shook his head. "No, not quite. I'm afraid you came across a misplaced key and triggered it somehow. I'm still unsure as to how it could have happened, the keys are never handled so carelessly..."

"The key," said Bentley. "The orb? Is that what you're talking about?"

Lui shrugged.

"Okay, enough chit-chat." Yin narrowed her eyes. "How do we get back? I'd rather not live like a savage for very long. Just tell us how and you can go along your merry way."

Kaiya, aghast at her flippant treatment of a spirit, grabbed her arm and yanked her back. "Are you crazy?" She gave a funny little bow to Lui. "I'm very sorry, this is just how she is..."

"Better get that fixed soon, other spirits aren't as benevolent as I am." Everyone ignored the loud snort from Yin and picked up the conversation again. "I'm afraid I don't know the answer to your question, though; this sort of thing isn't exactly common, you see, and we're all a bit baffled."

"So there's no way to get back home." Talin had a very flat look on her face. "You don't know how we got here, so you don't know how to send us back."

"Yes," Lui admitted.

Yin gave a wordless cry of anger and swept out a leg, kicking at a tree. Everyone jumped when a flare of fire erupted from her foot and incinerated the tree.

"What the hell was that?"

Kaiya coughed and felt her eyes watering from the smoke. "Someone put out the fire!"

"Interesting," Lui mused, not lifting a single finger to help. "I wonder...?"

In a display of uncharacteristic anger, Kaiya whirled around and began shouting at him. "Interesting or not, you're the only one who can stop a full-out forest fire right now! So do something!"

"I'm not a water spirit." He shrugged delicately. "My apologies."

"Don't bother," Yin shouted, trying to splash water at the tree with her bare hands. The water didn't even reach it, running through her fingers and splattering over the bank of the pond uselessly. "He's not going to help, the bloody ass."

"Language," reprimanded Bentley. Yin sneered.

With one last glare at the spirit, Kaiya ran over to help. The land had been suffering from a dry spell, it seemed, because the fire caught and spread inordinately quickly. If it spread anymore, the small pond wouldn't be enough to put out a large-scale fire, which would almost certainly destroy whatever edible foodstuffs that remained in the wood's depths.

All four of them pitched in to stop the fire, but they didn't actually do anything, just made a mess of themselves. Kaiya felt a well of frustration rise up within her and moved her arms with broad, strong movement in hopes of releasing some of her pent-up anger.

The water surged from the pond and twisted toward the fire, landing with a tremendous crash and instantly dousing the flames. Everyone - but the spirit - was soaked, but no one was complaining. Instead, the girls were all staring at a gaping Kaiya, who looked at her hands with round eyes.

"What... did I do that?" Kaiya asked in a small voice.

"Of course." Lui sighed. "My suspicions seem to be correct. Water. Earth. Fire. Air." He pointed to Kaiya, Bentley, Yin and Talin respectively with each element he listed off. "How... unusual."

Yin was gazing at her hand with an inscrutable look in her eye and Kaiya was still dazed by what she'd done. Talin, on the other hand, had lit up like a torch. Bentley frowned. "We weren't benders in our world."

"Bending depends on the spirit. Perhaps your world just lacked the spirituality necessary for such feats."

Bentley lapsed into silence, deep in thought, and Yin snapped out of it to take up the questioning. "Where are we? What day is it? Has the Avatar been spotted yet? Is the world at peace?"

"You're in what remains of Lao Chang in the Earth Kingdom, and it is early summer. The Avatar..." He studied them carefully. "I have been told that you know of the future, and of things no mortals should know at this time. Prove it."

It was Kaiya who stepped up to the challenge. "The previous Avatar, Roku, was left to die by his longtime friend Sozin, who betrayed him and abandoned him at the volcano, where Fang - Roku's dragon - died with his master."

"Hmm. Well, I doubt anyone but the royal family knows that, and considering the war I'd say that bit of information has been suppressed for ages. Alright, I'll take it." Lui drifted closer. "The Avatar is still inside the iceberg with the sky bison."

Yin slapped a hand to her face and dragged it down. "So basically, the series hasn't even started yet. The war might not be over until we die. Isn't this just amazing."

"I have told you all you need to know." Lui turned and headed into the woods, robes flaring gently behind him. Then he paused. "Hmm. Perhaps..." He turned and waved a hand over the girls, who felt the barest pinpricks of warmth scatter throughout their bodies.

Ever suspicious, Yin took a step back and glared. "What did you do to us?"

"Something to help." With that cryptic answer, the spirit turned and faded.

The four of them stood still, reeling from the information overload, and stared at each other until Bentley shook it off and headed back to the house. "It's getting dark," she said. "And we need to talk."

* * *

_End._

* * *

**AN: Ace in the Hole isn't going to be a story about the OCs being majorly involved with the Gaang or Zuko. They're not going to join Aang and his merry band, or accompany Zuko on his hunt for the Avatar. My goal is to use them to provide a glimpse into how the people of the Avatar world may have lived while Aang was mastering the elements and our favorite exiled prince was having internal turmoil after turmoil. That's not to say there won't be any interactions with them, of course, but I'm hoping to stay away from the typical OC-falls-into-fandom story.**

**Leave a review!**


	4. Battle Plans

**Ace in the Hole**

**Eurwen de Vrill**

**Chapter Four: Battle Plans**

* * *

It turned out that lighting up a tree and almost starting a forest fire was a definite one-time thing. Yin could barely scrounge up a flame to light a candle, never mind an entire forest.

The same problem applied to Kaiya, who was still in shock from her waterbending and was leery of trying again. At her friends' insistence she halfheartedly tried to control the water in the cup to her satisfaction, but barely caused a ripple.

"Alright, listen up. I made a list." Bentley waited until the others were gathered around the bed to continue.

"Lists," mused Talin. "I like lists. Lists are nice."

"They are, aren't they?" Even Bentley's smile was strained. The girls had trooped back into the abandoned house in somber silence as the grim reality of their situation finally sank in. They were stranded in a world they barely knew, they had no money, and they had no idea where to even begin with their respective bending. "Anyway, I made a list of what we need. Food and decent clothing, but to get those we need money."

Water wasn't a concern for them, as they'd discovered a working pump at the back of the house. There was also the possibility of Kaiya developing enough control over her bending to pull drinkable water out of their surroundings.

"There's also Lui's... gift... to us. We don't know what it is, and I don't trust him very much."

"Agreed." Yin gazed at the small flame flickering atop her fingers. Though a long way off from achieving the same feats the original characters of the show had displayed, she was nonetheless getting a grasp on this firebending business with considerable speed. Then again, Yin had the tendency to plow full steam ahead with single-minded intensity not uncommon in charging bulls once she deemed something worthy of her attention. "For all we know he might have cursed us, that asshole."

Talin, who had been sitting quietly with a look of deep contemplation on her face, raised her head. "Do we know what currency these people use? Obviously they don't use dollars or euros, and I can't imagine them using rubles."

The thought of an entirely different currency hadn't even occurred to them, though in hindsight it should have. The Avatar series was largely based on ancient Asian cultures and the dollar was a purely American invention.

Bentley scrubbed her face with her hands and sighed. "And there's that. But we'll cross that bridge in a bit. For now, I want us to focus on our bending."

Yin leaned against the wall and turned her head, staring out the window. "Are we going to find someone to teach us, or is it self-study?"

"Self-study. We can't risk drawing attention from other people yet."

"If not now, then when?" Talin rocked back on her heels, head tilted toward the ceiling. "We need to find a town to stay in, preferably a small one. That way we can observe other people and learn the ways of this world while staying clear of the Fire Nation."

"Bending first," Kaiya interrupted. "Yin's and my bending was triggered by our emotions - she was angry, and I was desperate. We can't risk accidentally doing the same thing in front of other people; we need to get it under control first."

Bentley nodded to her. "I agree with Kaiya. What happens if something surprises us while we stay at a town? Yin might set fire to something and Kaiya might do what she did today. Same goes for Talin and me. No, we need to practice until we get the hang of this thing before we go anywhere."

"Good thing we're in the middle of nowhere, then." The fire was snuffed out, and tendrils of smoke curled from Yin's fingertips. "'Cause I've got a feeling this isn't going to be pretty."

* * *

Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye.

The girls' training had been full of rocky starts and cringe-worthy mistakes, but through sheer effort and trial and error, they had gained a sliver of control over their respective elements. Talin had been the first to control her element consciously and had spent a good portion of her time puzzling out how to send blasts of air from her limbs. Her cheerful demeanor had resurfaced during moments of great success, but much to the others' worry the lighthearted madness that had been so characteristic of the girl had all but disappeared. This seemed to have affected her bending prowess in some way, because though she'd initially been the most talented, her progress had stagnated. Talin could be seen struggling to scrounge up enough control to create a breeze when she thought no one was looking. Her friends didn't say anything but did send her concerned looks over the days.

Yin had thrown herself into firebending with a motivation previously unseen from her, defying her usual lazy nature and propelling her forward in achieving success. The occasional accident happened, resulting in a burned ghost house or two, but overall she had gained enough control over her fire to be able to call forth flames on demand. She had been pleased to see that her body had taken to firebending especially well, given the years of training she had undergone since childhood. Evidently, it paid off to have martial arts instructors for parents and grandparents. The other girls had benefited from their own training, seeing as they'd all met and befriended each other at the Fei martial arts center, but weekly lessons didn't exactly measure up to twelve years of getting the snot beaten out of you.

Kaiya, once she had overcome her initial hesitation, had taken to her element like a duck to water. Calm and highly adaptable by nature, she had found familiarity in the flowing movements required to direct water and could create not unimpressive waves and shapes from the liquid. She and Yin had taken to testing out their control against each other, which was always a sight to see since water negated fire but flames hot enough could vaporize the liquid. Contrary to Talin's declining mood, she enjoyed a more optimistic view on their situation, going along with the general flow of things and quickly finding her balance in the strange new world they found themselves in.

Earth had taken Bentley a while to understand, but sooner or later she began to get a grasp on how to bend it. After so many years of playing mediator in their little group, she had subconsciously begun to look for the path of least resistance in everything. Though this was incredibly efficient most of the time, with earthbending she couldn't afford such a passive manner of thinking. Earth was hard and required force, strength of both mind and body, and she had slowly rebuilt her thought process into one where she hit the problem directly head-on. Her steely determination to see things through and unshakable nature served her well in the end and she too was able to control her element well enough for a novice.

They had all found some semblance of footing with their bending, but no one doubted that they were next to nothing in comparison to a real bender with real training. At this stage in time they were comparable to toddlers beginning to walk without crumpling to the floor every two steps, while experienced benders were giants looming over their heads. They had a long way to go.

After dinner, which consisted of roasted mammal (they weren't sure what it was, but it resembled some kind of cross between a pheasant and a rabbit), Bentley pushed away her cracked plate and looked around the small circle with a sober face. "I've got something to say, and don't interrupt me until I'm done."

Kaiya looked up uneasily. Yin and Talin had yet to see it, but she had heard the undercurrents of... something... in her voice and was steadily growing more alarmed. Whatever Bentley had to say, she wasn't going to like it.

She didn't. "I want us to split up."

Yin leaped to her feet. Her abrupt motion sent the clay cup clattering onto the floor, but no one paid it any mind. "Have you lost your mind?"

"No." There was cold steel in every line of Talin's body. She looked as close to furious as they'd ever seen her. "We're not splitting up. Not yet."

"Not yet?" Kaiya echoed in disbelief. "Not ever! How is splitting up going to help us?"

Throughout this uproar Bentley had remained calm and unruffled. Now she leaned forward, eyes serious. "We're cut off from civilization here," she argued. "We don't know what day it is, where in Earth Kingdom we are, or anything else we need to know. The war might end and we might not even know. There's nothing more for us here - we need to find other people."

"And why can't we do that together?" Yin demanded. "We have less chance of starving to death or getting lost or running into enemies if we're in a group. Why split up?"

"You're a firebender! Kaiya's a waterbender, I'm an earthbender, and Talin - Talin's an airbender, who are all supposedly dead. How on earth -" Bentley broke off and ran a hand through her hair, frustration clear on her face. "Look, we're in the Earth Kingdom. A firebender isn't exactly going to be welcomed with open arms, and as an earthbender I have to avoid areas under Fire Nation control."

"Which, since the series hasn't started yet, is Ba Sing Se and Omashu. Maybe even Toph's town, but we don't know where that is." Kaiya lapsed into silence, brows creased as she tried to recall if the name of the place had ever been mentioned.

"Why can't we hide our bending? Why not pretend to be war orphans, wandering the country for a place to live?" Talin challenged. "Why do we have to separate?"

It was unnerving how much Talin had changed in the span of a few weeks. They'd seen her more serious and focused in fourteen days than in an entire year, and though they'd often talked of bringing her down to earth, now that it happened Kaiya wanted their old friend back. The old Talin would have meandered away to watch the clouds or chase after shadows, laughing like a lunatic. This Talin was... She didn't know how to describe it. It was as if the childish innocence had drained out of her, leaving a weary, hardened woman. They were all like that, but not as much as Talin. Perhaps the genius had realized something that none of the others had yet to see.

Out of the corner of her eye Kaiya spotted Yin regarding the airbender with a look of quiet dawning. Yin saw her looking and tilted her head once, wordlessly promising to share her thoughts to her later. Satisfied, Kaiya turned back to the argument at hand.

"Not yet," Talin was insisting. "Not so soon. We need more time."

"We've had _two weeks _- "

"What I want to know is why we have to split up in the first place," Kaiya interjected.

Bentley heaved a sigh. "We need to master our bending, and we can't do that alone. We need to find people to teach us, though I don't know what Talin's going to do. The one person who can help her is currently frozen in an iceberg."

Kaiya opened her mouth to protest, but Yin nodded slowly. "We'll need cover stories then. We're going to have to blend in, stay in the shadows until we have an idea as to what to do. Right now we're as good as dead if we walk into a city."

"War orphans," Talin repeated. "We're four war orphans from a small, isolated Earth Kingdom village, and the war hit us hard. It cut off our food supplies and people starved to death before the town was destroyed by a disease. We were the only survivors."

"Yin and I look similar enough to pass off as family," said Kaiya. "Cousins, maybe. We don't look alike enough to be sisters, much less twins."

This was true: the two girls had dark brown (bordering on black) hair and brown eyes, but where Yin was pale, Kaiya sported a glowing tan. The waterbender boasted a curvy figure that made her friend resemble a stick when placed beside her. Yin was all sharp angles and deceptively frail-looking limbs while Kaiya was soft and feminine. There was no way they'd pass for sisters, and even claiming cousin status was a bit of a stretch.

Yin took a moment to eye the other two contemplatively. "We're lucky you don't have blond or red hair or something like that. Except for Yue, everyone in the show had dark hair. Your eyes though, we can work with those. "

The earthbender thought of her own green eyes, looked at Talin's pale gray ones, and hoped they didn't nearly look as exotic as Yin made them sound. Toph had green eyes in the show (blindness ignored for the moment) and Aang himself had gray eyes... though they probably weren't as pale and piercing as Talin's were, as if they were twin pools of silver under moonlight. At least they both had brown hair.

"Bentley should be from a nearby village that was also destroyed. I'd rather not have all of us from one small town that was supposedly ravaged by war and disease alike. Four healthy survivors, all sixteen year old girls, won't make it realistic enough." Talin rubbed her chin in thought. "I could say I'm from a traveling nomad family that was caught up in the disease. I met up with you three when I went to look for my family after I stayed with my grandmother."

Bentley nodded. "That's fine. I don't think we need to worry about last names, since there weren't any on the show. But just in case, can you tell us any common Chinese last names?"

Yin shrugged. "Chen, I guess. I doubt you'll need it though. But speaking of names, you're going to need new ones. Bentley is too exotic for this place, it's not Asian enough. Talin might work, but if she wants she can go with something else too."

Bentley looked affronted. "I don't need a new name!"

"Yes, you do, shut up." Yin eased back on her hands and released a soft sigh. "I have an aunt named Lifen, so that should do, the 'Li' part sounds close enough to the last half of your name. _Li_fen, Bent_ley_. See what I did there?"

"You're so clever," Bentley replied wryly. "Alright, fine, I'll be Lifen. Better safe than sorry."

"And what about Talin?" Kaiya's lips quirked up mischievously. "How about Mulan? You always did like that movie - "

"No." Everyone blinked, thrown by the curt refusal. Talin's face looked as if it had been carved from marble. "I'm using my name. I'm Talin."

Yin pursed her lips and nodded, but Kaiya and Bentley looked at the airbender as if seeing her for the first time. All three of them had thought the normally drifting girl would have leaped for the chance to give herself the name of her favorite Disney princess. And she would have, only a few weeks ago. Now they weren't sure if the hard-faced girl in front of them was the same lunatic they had become so fond of over the years.

"Then it's decided," Yin said, swiftly changing the topic. Her warning glance quelled any questions that played on her friends' tongues. "We'll stick together and head for the closest village. We're going to need new clothes -" (she plucked at her dirtied yukata with distaste) " - and find some way to earn money."

"We're most likely heading to a poor Earth Kingdom village," objected Bentley. Her gaze lingered on Talin but she refrained from commenting on her strange behavior. "It's more than possible that they won't have enough to give us, even if we work. But since we need a place to stay we could do odd jobs around the town and maybe get ourselves somewhere to sleep."

"Sounds good to me." Kaiya stretched and rose to her feet. "I think it's time to sleep. Tomorrow we're going to hit the road; we need as much rest as we can get."

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**AN: Another chapter! Trouble amongst the girls, it seems, with Talin acting strangely...**

**So far things have been moving pretty slowly, but now I think things will pick up soon. Eh. Depends on what hits me next.**

**Leave a review!**


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